I have known Clemente De Luca for a long time now.As Kidd Rasta and the Peacemakers, he could give you the number of years (15 or more / less) has always been “a show”. His smile and vibe is real, honest, humble and infectious. It is his personality as well as the energy he and his band exude on stage and feeds to audiences who clamour to see them, whenever and where ever they perform.

I was fortunate enough to grow up in Jamaica where reggae music is an infusion into our collective psyches and to be around and be a part of so much positive vibrations from Count Ossie, Desmond Dekker, Jackie Mitoo, Mr. Marley, Willi Williams (the list is endless) to the DJ / the selecta, the sound, reggae music has fed me and millions worldwide with hope, knowledge, spirituality and love. Well, those are the things I like to focus on.

As a part of a Canadian reggae community, I have complained about the lack of growth allowing some of its participants to truly earn from their creations in the over fifty years of the genre’s existence in this country. I have blamed everyone and everything, including myself, for these shortcomings and as I have grown and learned, all things have a time when they bloom. Some plants and animals exist for an entire day, week, month, year / s whichever and even while you / I complain, sometimes it just isn’t time to bloom.

I just recently had the pleasure of booking this band at the Waterfall and they did not disappoint. Mark Rynkun on bass, Stacey Yerofeyeva on keys and backing vocals, Shane ‘Shaky J’ Forrest on lead guitar, Paul Nanuwa on drums, Gary Hoey on sax and backing vocals and Clem on lead vocals. These are The Peacemakers! I saw an hour performance where the band did two Marley covers, who Clem absolutely reveres, and the rest of the 90% of the performance are original songs. Original tunes that I and many in the audience sing along to! A ‘local’ band that plays their own music! This is no dis to any other reggae act or live band of any other genre, yet it is truly refreshing and stimulating for audiences who appreciate originality. I happen to be one of those!

Toronto / Canada is the toughest nut to crack as it pertains to the arts and in my honest opinion, Torontonians as well as Canadians need to know about this gem, this band in our midst. Let’s not wait for mainstream media to tell us what we already know.

Kidd Rasta and The Peacemakers are the real deal! This band is in full bloom!